Leadership Craft, Leadership Art

Leadership is a creative process in the same way that painting, acting, drawing or other arts are a creative process and the essence of that creative process is in the craft practice, rather than the flash of creative insight. The nature of creativity is explored, with the key points illustrated through examples of artistic practice. The lessons learned are applied to the practice of leadership to create a theoretical and practical understanding of the craft and art of leadership.

Steven S. Taylor is an associate professor in the School of Business at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. His research is focused in two areas: Organizational aesthetics takes seriously the idea that management is as much an art as it is a science, and applies art-based scholarship and practice to management and organizations. Reflective practice is the ability to analyze our own actions and learn from that how to be more effective, ethical, and artful as managers and leaders. At the heart of his work as a researcher and teacher is his own practice as a playwright. His plays have been performed in England, France, Poland, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and the US. From his work in the theater he has come to realize that learning is a whole body sport and this belief influences both his research and teaching.